Talented Houston chef Grant Gordon dies

Grant Gordon, one of the most promising young chefs to emerge in Houston in recent years, was found dead Monday in his home at the age of 28. The cause of his death, according to the Harris County medical examiner’s office, was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Only last week Gordon and his partners David Keck and Paul Petronella announced they were opening a restaurant in Montrose called The Edmont, a project that would be Gordon’s return to the Houston dining scene since leaving his position at Vallone’s steakhouse in February.

The Houston restaurant community reacted with shock and sorrow Tuesday.

Tony Vallone, the owner of Tony’s, the restaurant that launched Gordon’s culinary career in Houston, said he was proud of his young chef’s accomplishments. “I enjoyed being a mentor to him. We had a wonderful working relationship. I’m very sad over this tragic news,” Vallone said. “We had good teamwork. He loved to learn. His mind was open. He was a great student and had a quest for knowledge.”

Matt Marcus, a partner at Eatsie Boys, said he and Gordon became friends when they both worked at Cyrus, the Michelin two-star restaurant in Healdsburg, CA. But years before that, Gordon had called Marcus to get his advice about attending the Culinary Institute of America, where Marcus was enrolled. “I told him it’s not a party school. You go there to learn to be a chef,” he said. “That’s all Grant wanted to do.”

Marcus said he was in awe of Gordon’s talent at such a young age. “He’s one of the best chefs I know; one of the best chefs in Houston without a doubt.”

Roy Shvartzapel, principal and executive chef of Common Bond Café & Bakery, also shared with Gordon a connection to Cyrus, where Shvartzapel was pastry chef.

“We first met when he came to work at Cyrus. I didn’t know there was another Houstonian in the kitchen,” said the chef who added that he and Gordon shared the same birthday. “We were really good friends.”

Shvartzapel said he wasn’t sure that Gordon would be a good fit at Tony’s. “I’ll be honest, when he took on the position at Tony’s, I was a little bit skeptical. But he blew it out of the water. He’s immensely talented. The city of Houston lost a star today, for sure. He’s someone who already contributed to the evolved gastronomic birth in this city in the past five years.”

Chef Shvartzapel also said he knew Gordon as a “very gentle soul.” “Even in stressful situations he had a certain calmness to him. He was very soften spoken.”

And he was “very Houston proud,” Shvartzapel added. “He really loved him some H-town. He really did.”

Ronnie Killen, chef/owner of Killen’s Barbecue and Killen’s Steakhouse, both in Pearland, said Gordon was at his barbecue restaurant on Sunday. (Gordon’s last tweets were from his lunch at Killen’s, praising the beef ribs and calling Killen a “hero.”)

“I’m in shock. I just can’t believe that he’s not here,” Killen said Tuesday. “What a shame.”

Killen said Gordon and a few friends ate beef ribs, chicken-fried steak and other barbecue on Sunday. “He’s been here a couple of times. I always took care of him. He was at my steakhouse too, and he came to the pop-ups. He understood the hard work that went into it,” Killen said. “He said he never took pictures of food, but he took a picture of the beef ribs and he posted a picture of him and I.”

Killen recalled a night he made reservations to dine at Tony’s, but it was Gordon’s night off. “But he came in to make sure I was taken care of and everything was good,” he said. “To come in on your day off?”
Killen added, “The city of Houston has lost a great chef.”

Gordon burst on the local restaurant scene when he earned a rare four-star Chronicle review in 2011 when he ran the kitchen at Tony’s. Gordon started as a line cook at the restaurant and the then 23-year-old worked his way up to executive chef. In late 2013, he helped open Vallone open his eponymous steakhouse before departing in the spring.

In 2012, Gordon was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Rising Star Chef Award and included on Forbes’ list of 30 notable people under age 30.

Gordon’s first restaurant job was at age 16 at the fine dining Zula, where the inexperienced teen worked for free. His first paying job came when he was a senior at Memorial High School. It was at Rickshaw, a River Oaks sushi bar.